AWS Lambda MicroVMs vs Shellbox

AWS Lambda MicroVMs costs $0.0997 per vCPU-hour and Shellbox costs $0.01 per vCPU-hour. AWS Lambda MicroVMs runs Firecracker microVMs and limits a session to 8 hours. Shellbox runs Firecracker microVMs and has no session limit.

Updated

AWS Lambda MicroVMs

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
Not listed
Max session
8 hours

Shellbox

Isolation
Firecracker microVM
Free tier
Not listed
Max session
No limit

What is different

6 fields differ. The rest are the same or not listed.

AWS Lambda MicroVMs
Shellbox
vCPU, per hour
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: $0.0997
Shellbox: $0.01
RAM, per GiB-hour
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: $0.0132
Shellbox: Included
Storage
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Snapshot storage $0.08 per GB-month (US East). Snapshot write $0.0038 per GB. Snapshot read $0.00155 per GB.
Shellbox: A stopped box costs $0.50 per x1 slot per month
Billing
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Per second
Shellbox: Bundled machine time
Max session
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: 8 hours
Shellbox: No limit
Largest sandbox
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: 4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Shellbox: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB

Full comparison

18 fields, at each provider's list price

Pricing

vCPU, per hour
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: $0.0997
Shellbox: $0.01
RAM, per GiB-hour
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: $0.0132
Shellbox: Included
Storage
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Snapshot storage $0.08 per GB-month (US East). Snapshot write $0.0038 per GB. Snapshot read $0.00155 per GB.
Shellbox: A stopped box costs $0.50 per x1 slot per month
Free tier
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Not listed
Shellbox: Not listed
Paid plan from
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Not listed
Shellbox: Pay as you go
Billing
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Per second
Shellbox: Bundled machine time

Limits

Max session
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: 8 hours
Shellbox: No limit
Idle stop
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Not listed
Shellbox: After 2 minutes
Largest sandbox
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: 4 vCPU · 8 GiB
Shellbox: 16 vCPU · 32 GiB
Concurrent sandboxes
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Not listed
Shellbox: Up to 16

Platform

Isolation
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Firecracker microVM
Shellbox: Firecracker microVM
GPU
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Not listed
Shellbox: Not listed
Snapshots
AWS Lambda MicroVMs:
Shellbox:
Pause and resume
AWS Lambda MicroVMs:
Shellbox:

Developer

SDKs
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Python, JavaScript
Shellbox: Not listed
Integrations
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Not listed
Shellbox: Claude Code

Trust

License
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Not listed
Shellbox: Not listed
BYOC
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: Not listed
Shellbox: Not listed

Hourly cost

One sandbox running for one hour

AWS Lambda MicroVMs
Shellbox
1 vCPU · 2 GiB
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: $0.126
Shellbox: $0.010
2 vCPU · 4 GiB
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: $0.252
Shellbox: $0.020
4 vCPU · 8 GiB
AWS Lambda MicroVMs: $0.504
Shellbox: $0.040

Compute only, at list rates.

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Which one fits

Based on the fields above

Shellbox fits when

  • A session must run longer than 8 hours.
  • You use Claude Code.
  • You want the lower list price: $0.020 against $0.252 an hour for 2 vCPU and 4 GiB.
  • You need a sandbox larger than 4 vCPU · 8 GiB.

More comparisons

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